Senior Center aims to create Circle of Friends’

Although we live in a world in which technology allows people to communicate more easily, there are still senior citizens on Cape Cod who remain isolated, often going days without speaking with another person.

Although we live in a world in which technology allows people to communicate more easily, there are still senior citizens on Cape Cod who remain isolated, often going days without speaking with another person.

Claudia Borden-Brierly at the Barnstable Senior Center hopes that a new Senior Center program, Circle of Friends, will change that for senior citizens in the Town of Barnstable.

“I got a call from a woman recently who told me I was the first person she’d talked to all day,” said Borden-Brierly.

Motivated by the woman’s situation, and those of other seniors in Barnstable’s villages, Borden-Brierly developed what is essentially a calling circle.

The basic concept involves creating a phone tree of seniors from local villages so that once a week those in more isolated situations receive friendly phone calls aimed at lifting their spirits and keeping them connected with others.

“We wanted to get seniors who may be isolated someone to talk to,” said Borden-Brierly.

The Senior Center is seeking volunteers – adults of all ages – who will be given a questionnaire to determine particular interests. They will be matched with seniors, preferably in their home village. In a fashion similar to the phone trees of days past: one caller starts the chain, which continues from one caller to the next in an effort to connect as many seniors as possible.

Both Borden-Brierly and Senior Services Director Madeline Taylor hope that the program will not only enhance the well-being of more isolated seniors, but will also help people form new and lasting friendships.

“It’s a way we can get people to develop some new friends without having to do anything more than make one phone call a week,” said Borden-Brierly.

“I think coming from the same village gives people something they can identify with,” said Taylor.

Unlike the Center’s wellness check calls, the Circle of Friends calls would be based on friendlier, more personal conversation, with folks sharing stories about their families, hobbies, and similar life experiences.

Taylor and Borden-Brierly feel that Circle of Friends will serve to enhance the wellness check programs.

“It can bring other issues to light,” said Borden-Brierly. “If someone says, ‘I’m not feeling well,’ [the caller] can ask if they should call the doctor. Not only are we trying to help people become friends, we’re also trying to give them means to all available resources.”

Procedures will also be in place in case of unanswered or unmade phone calls, which could potentially signal a problem involving the caller or the recipient of a call.

Another plus to the program, according to Taylor, is that it’s fairly inexpensive to operate.

“The beauty of this idea [is that] this doesn’t really need a lot of funding,” she said, noting that it is hoped that a $400 grant from the Cape Consortium will provide the program’s necessary overhead.

Taylor and Borden-Brierly hope to get the program started this fall and are looking forward to helping local seniors get connected.

“You get so involved in your own life you lose track of people,” said Borden-Brierly. “I know that I can go without talking to my friends for a really long time. We’re trying to get people to talk to each other.”

For more information about Circle of Friends, call the Barnstable Senior Center at 508-862-4750.